Building-block truck.



C. 0. BRANDELL.

BUILDING BLOCK TRUCK.

APPLICATION man NOV. la. I916.

Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

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C. 0. BRANDELL.

BUILDING BLOCK TRUCK.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.13, 1916.

Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

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GLAUS o. BRANDELL, or CINCINNATI, oI-iIo, ASSIGNOR To THE BRANDELLCOMPANY, or CINCINNATI, OHIO, A CORPORATION or OHIO.

BUILDING-BLOCK TRUCK.

Specification of Letters .Patent.

Patented Dec.- 3, 1918.

Application filed November 13, 1916. Serial No. 130,971.

To allwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLAUs O. BRANDELL, a citizen of the United States,and residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio,have invented a new and Improved Building-Block Truck, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to means for accelcrating and insuring uniformcuring or hardening concrete building blocks, and its object is toprovide a device wherein the blocks canbe cured in the least possibletime and at a minimum cost.

This invention consists in a. truck upon which the building blocks maybe stacked, a housing for the blocks mounted on the truck, means tosecure a vapor-tightjoint between the housing and truck, and means forsupplying steam to the inside of the housing.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of thisimproved truck with the housing in position, one corner of the housingbeing broken away to show the interior thereof. Fig. 2 is a verticaltransverse section of the truck. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of thetruck. Fig. 4 is a detail showing the method of constructing thehousing. Fig. 5 is a detail showing the method of sealing the jointbetween the housing and the body of the truck.

Similar reference characters refer to like parts throughout the severalviews.

It has been found that concrete building blocks can be cured in verymuch less time within a room filled with steam than when the blocks arestacked up outside in the open air and sprinkled regularly with water.The objection to curing the blocks within a steam chamber is that thelarge spaces usually required for the handling of the blocks cause aloss of steam, and furthermore it has been found that the blocks do notcure evenly in such steam chambers and that therefore a longer time isrequired to cure all the blocks than is necessary to finish individualones. It is practically impossible to fully saturate the air in a largecuring chamber as completely as in a small casing or housing. It hasalso been found that the repeated handlings of the blocks in passingfrom the block machine to the steam chamber are liable to cause haircracks in the block, which materially impairs the crushing strengththereof. In the construction shown in the drawings a truck of ordinaryconstruction is shown provided with a cover and means to supply steam tothe interior of the cover. Blocks can be placed in racks on the truck ifdesired and need not be moved until fully cured. It will be understoodthat a suliicient number of properly equipped trucks must be provided totake care of the output of the plant.

The construction of the truck itself may be of any well knownconstruction, consisting of a bed 3, pedestals 4;, axles 5 and wheels 6running on the rails 7. If it is desired to lock the truck to the railsat any particular point, a hook 8 may be formed to engage a plate 9 atthe lower end of one of the pedestals. A scaffolding 10 of any desiredconstruction may be mounted on the truck to support the concrete blocks12 resting on their pallets 13. These pallets will of course be thoseagainst which or on which the block is formed in the machine. Anydesired type of-framework may be employed.

The construction of the cover or housing may be varied as desired. Thatshown consists of plates 15 of sheet metal bent to form the roof 16 andthe sides 17 of the housing. The several plates 15 are flared out attheir adjacent edges to constitute flanges 18 that are secured togetherby the rivets 19, as shown in Fig. 4:. The ends 20 are preferably bentto lap over the outer edges of the end plates15 to constitute flanges 21which may be secured to the outer plates 15 by means of rivets 23.

The lower edges of the ends and sides of the housing extend down into atrough 24:. as shown in Figs. 2 and 5, and this trough. may be filledwith any proper liquid 25. such as water or oil, to form a seal betweenthe truck bed 3 and the housing and prevent the escape of steam from thecuring chamber. For the purpose of raising and lowering the housing, Tbars 26 having holes 27 at their upper ends may be secured to the endsof the housing and into these holes the hooks 28 on cables 29 mayengage. The weight of the housing may be provided for by means of thecounterbalance 30 attached to these cables 29 which extend around thepulley 32.

A steam main 34 will extend adjacent the tracks 7 and have valves 35connected to it. Nipples 36 extend down from these valves and a flexibleconnection in the form of a rubber hose 37 may be secured to this nippleby means of a clamp 38. The lower end of the rubber tubing may besecured to the elbow 89 by means of another hose clamp to. The'elbow 39connects to a fitting 42, preferably in the form of a T, and thisfitting may connect to the cross pipe 423 and the vertical pipe 44. Thecross pipe as connects to an elbow 45 and that in turn to a verticalpipe 46. The lower ends of these pipes stand 46 connect into Ts 47 whichre eive the longitudinal pipesz48, formed with any desired number ofdischarge openings so that steam from the'main 3% may flow. alongthe'bottom of the housing and discharge directly toward theiblockscarried by the truck. These pipes are. preferably located. at or nearthe lowest portions of any of the blocks within the housing in orderthat the entire mass of all the" blocksmay be affected by the steam.ThesepipestS maybe omitted should it be found that because: ofthesizezand: proportiOIlS'lOftllB truck and'the. housing thereon it isnecessarysto.discharge the steam only at themiddleof the truck.

After. the rack on .the truck has'been filled, the truck willbevpushedonthe track until it is below .the desired housing, whereupon the hookSmay: be used to secure the truck iii-position. The housing is thenlowered down onto the truck and the flexible connection 37employed tojoin the nipple 36 to the elbow 37. ,A long flexiblecconnection willobviate'the necessity of making connecions. Steam is then admitted byopening the valvei35. After a' period of from eight to :twelvehours theblocksiwill' be found ready tozbe removed from the curingiehamher. 'Thetime of turning on the steam may be indicated by one hand 50 of anindicater 51, whereupon the time for turning ofi the steam will beindicated by means of the hand52. These two hands will be adjustablerelative to each other but will normally be moved together. v

' This invention does not include the construction of the. framework orracks, nor

does it include the details of construction of the housing. The detailsand proportionsof these partsmay all be 'changediby those skilled in theart without departing from the spirit of my invention.

1 I claim: 1. In a device for curing concrete building blocks, thecombination of: a truclt hav- 1 ing a bed provided with acircumferential groove, a housing? for "the truckahaving its lower 1edge extending into this circumfen ential groove, perforated pipessecured to'its walls to concluctsteam. to the interior of the i GLAUS o.:BRANDELL- I Copies of this patent may-be obtained for five cents each,by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,-

Wmshington, I). 0."

